There is also a good 40 or so points that only people with a higher avg age and credit aged accounts can have. There isn't much difference between the very high and med scores except many of them have just age differences. Nothing you can do but slowly slowly gain over years from there unless you have the right AU accounts to add.

I am not fully in the 760+ club yet, just EX is above at 765. It wasn't always like that and about 12 years ago the only credit card I could get was a little $300 CL. I was married to a man that didn't want to work for anyone else even though we were barely getting by on what he made doing "side jobs" and me working nights for hardly more than minimum wage. We were young and stupid and probably a good thing that we had no credit then.

I worked my way up to file clerk when our 3 children were of school age. Then my company got an IBM mainframe and I learned the system. After about 3 years at that job I went to another company to fully become a systems operator earning almost $30k a year. Wow! That was a pretty good salary back then. I stayed there for 3 years until the company was bought out. I then accepted a job offer from my former manager there at his new company making $36k. I've been with the same company for 15 years now and I make close to $100k a year.

We weren't able to buy a house until I had been at my current job for a couple of years and also because my husband finally went to work for a stable employer. Once when I was going on a business trip I wanted to use "our" credit card instead of my company card. I found out that I wasn't even authorized to use the card! Funny... I made much more than he did and I wasn't authorized to use OUR card? So, I applied for my own card and got the $300 CL because I really had no credit other than the mortgage we had.

We divorced in 2000 and since then I have worked on building my credit. I look back over my report and I see the progression of cards from CL of $1000, $1500, etc. that I closed along the way for better cards. If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have closed those older cards when I got better ones but, tried to get CLI instead.

I bought my first house 6 months after the divorce (I had $28k from my half of the house we bought together). I did every bit of work myself from new flooring, tile, trim, paint, faucets and fixtures and sold that house after 3 years for a clear profit of $102k. I then bought my current house with $70k down (20%). I have gotten steady CL increases and I now have $75k in CC limits with a util of 4%, one auto loan with $5k left to pay, and a mortgage.

I have NEVER been late on anything but I do have one bad mark on my record. I co-signed for my daughter's car, she defaulted, I paid it in full. It now shows up on the 3 reports as:

Experian: "Paid, was a charge-off" with one 60-day late, Score 765.

TU: "Payment after charge off/collection with 0 lates, Score 742

Equifax: "Bad debt/collection" with 1 30-day late and 2 60-day late, Score 728. This account shows Inactive, not closed like the other 2, Balance 0, Description is Paid charge off. I believe it might be the Current Status of "bad debt/collection" that is hurting this score so much plus the 3 lates.

I have drafted a GW letter to Ford that I will send asking that they remove it. I have a Ford, my other daughter works for Ford, and I have paid mine 15 days early every month for 5 years (that's because the payment is due the 30th and I pay all my bills on the 15th). Even if Ford will not remove this from my report it will be 7 years in December so will come off in the next year, dependingon whether it stays 7 or 7.5 years.

It's taken a long time and diligence. Even if I don't have much to spare at bill time for some reason and only make a minimum payment it MUST NOT BE LATE. I hope to hit 800 in the next year too when Ford is gone.

We are proably in a similar score bucket. What is your util and how many CCs do you have reporting balances. EQ hates my 120 day late so thats why it is my lowest score. Gettting my util down bellow 10% (3% now, 1% now waiting to report) really helped my TU score and EX. I dont expect EQ to be above 760 for at least 2 more years (4 before the 120 day late falls off) but TU and EX could approach 800 in 2 years as well. Scores may drop when new auto loan starts to report.

Out of 6 CC I have 3 reporting a balance. As of the last reports my util was at 6%, it is now at 3% (that is if the highest balance card doesn't report before my payment gets credited) and I believe they will report in the next week or so.

6% of total CL on May reports. Does it matter that of the cards with a balance the util is 14% if you don't take into account my total CL?

CL 16,400, balance 3610

CL 6,500, balance 398

CL 9,500, balance 745

CL 17,500, balance 0

CL 12,000, balance 0

CL 12,200, balance 0

They should update as 3%:

CL 16,400, balance 2500 (this will be paid off in a couple of months)

CL 6,500, balance 0

CL 9,500, balance 0

CL 17,500, balance 0

CL 12,000, balance 0

CL 12,200, balance $57 (I got a Scorewatch alert that a previously dormant card showed activity but it said that it didn't affect my score. I will start rotating them so I don't have any dormant to hurt things if I decide to use it).

I am anxious to see what my score does when all CC are paid off and Ford comes off... hopefully in December. Only one report specifically says it should come off in Dec.

Normally you want 1 card to show a balance, even if its 15 dollars. This simply means PIF after the statement date but before interest charges.

You are in beautiful shape with those accounts. The one that might be lowering your score is the 16,400 one. Though the 14% on just accounts with balances doesn't hurt, you should get a boost when your total util is under 5% and the accounts reporting balances are at that level too. You aren't losing very many points right now but you could gain 5-10.

Thanks for the idea of keeping each under 5%. Occasionally I will put a larger purchase on a card and then PIF (like the $398 and $745 last month when I bought a couple of pieces of furniture). I think I'll write this on the back of a business card and keep it in my wallet. I am very conscious of what I charge and I know just about exactly what each balance is during the month. I rarely charge more than I know I can pay off each month.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION: All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, along with additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Score and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.